Chief justice gets death threat over Estrada trial

Chief justice gets death threat over Estrada trial

MANILA (AFP): Philippine Supreme Court chief justice Hilario
Davide on Friday read out a death threat sent to him for
presiding over the corruption trial of President Joseph Estrada
for allegedly taking bribes from illegal gambling bosses.

The letter, written on stationery from the office of Vice
President Gloria Arroyo, assailed him for supposedly turning on
Estrada and warned him: "We the Filipino people find you guilty
for the crime of betrayal of public trust.

"Therefore you are hereby sentenced to suffer the penalty of
death, together with your family and relatives," Davide read from
the letter during the hearing.

He said he did not believe the letter came from Arroyo who now
heads an opposition coalition seeking to unseat Estrada over the
corruption allegations.

Arroyo's spokesman Renato Corona said she condemned the threat
and charged that the letter was part of a "black propaganda
campaign" by pro-Estrada groups against the vice president.

Davide told the court he would continue his duties "even if it
would call for the sacrifice of my own life."

This came as prosecutors said they would enter as evidence,
proof that first lady Luisa Ejercito and an Estrada friend,
William Gatchalian, received huge checks from the president's
alleged bribe-collector, provincial Governor Luis Singson.

The copies indicated Ejercito received an eight-million-peso
($157,000) check while Gatchalian received a 46-million-peso
check from Singson in 1999.

Congressman Joker Arroyo, one of the prosecutors, remarked
that Ejercito did not list the check in her statement of assets
and hinted that she could be called to testify, saying "the first
lady has to explain what the money is for."

The Senate also threatened Friday to cite Jaime Dichaves,
another businessman friend of Estrada, for contempt unless he
answers accusations that he covered up bank accounts allegedly
used by the president to store millions of dollars in bribes.

Dichaves was summoned to appear by Monday to explain why he
should not be punished for claiming to be the true owner of an
account which a senior banker has said was set up under a false
name by the president.

"There appears to be a deliberate and malicious intent on the
part of Mr. Dichaves to mislead and make a mockery of the
proceedings of the impeachment court," Senate President Aquilino
Pimentel said.

In December, Dichaves sent a letter to the court saying he was
the true owner of an Equitable PCI Bank account held under the
name of "Jose Velarde."

Later that month, bank senior vice president Clarissa Ocampo
testified she saw Estrada sign the name "Jose Velarde" to the 500
million peso ($9.6 million) trust account.

Ocampo also said Dichaves later signed several other documents
that would have transferred ownership of the account to him.

Prosecutors have been trying to link the account, and several
others, to allegations that Estrada received huge bribes from
illegal gambling lords and skimmed off government funds.

Estrada was impeached in the House of Representatives in
November. If convicted by the Senate, he would be removed from
power.

Meanwhile, a parallel Senate hearing into allegations that
government agents spied on officials conducting the trial was
indefinitely suspended Friday after a police officer, who would
supposedly prove such spying, failed to appear.

During the trial Friday, bank and government employees
confirmed the authenticity of several documents related to the
charges that Estrada skimmed off a fund intended to help the
tobacco industry.

About 5,000 people staged a demonstration in the financial
district of Makati on Friday to demand Estrada's ouster, carrying
banners saying "guilty" and "resign."

Among those taking part in the protest was Vice President
Arroyo, former president Corazon Aquino as well as three
spectators who were thrown out of the trial gallery on Thursday
by pro-Estrada Senator Miriam Santiago for looking at her "in a
provocative way."